Frederick c



METHOD F. C. OVERBURY.

AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PREPARED ROOFING ELEMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.28. 1911.

Patented Aug. 26, 1919. a

l7'uve7v?07-: Freeze/1 1L070 Of averawrg 7' FREDERICK G. OVE'RBURY, OF HILLSDALE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE; FLINTKOTE 7 COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION MASSACHUSETTS.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PREPARED ROOFING ELEMENTS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug, 26, 1919.

Application filed December 28, 1917. Serial No. 209,228.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FREDERICK C. OVER- nunr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hillsdale, in the county of Bergen and State of New Jersey, have invented new and useful Improvements in Methods and Apparatus for Making Prepared Roofing Elements, of which the following is a specification. it

This invention has relationto the manufacture of prepared roofing elements in the form of shingle strips, so-called, which consist of slabs or strips having spaced tabs or projections which are exposed when the strips are laid in overlapping rows, and present the-appearance of shingles, tiles or slates. Such prepared roofing consists of a foundation of fibrous material, usually rag felt, which is porous and absorbent, and

which is saturated or impregnated with a relatively 1ow-melting-point asphalt or other hydrocarbon to waterproof the sheet, and coated with a layer of relatively high-melting-point pitch or asphalt, in which is partially embedded a surfacing material such as grit made of crushed or flaked tile, slate, granite or other mineral to give to the roofing an ornamental appearance, in addition to increasing its capacity to withstand the action of the elements and increasing its fireproof and acidproof qualities.

Heretofore it has been the practice first to produce a sheet of roofing such as described, and then, by means of cutting,

machines, to divide the sheet into shingle strips such as described; This has been done ordinarily as described in my Patent No. 908,125, by forming the sheet with a series of transverse slots and then slitting it longitudinally, or else by severing the sheet transversely into shingle strips as described in my Patent No. 1,182,416. While such a method of producing shingle strips has been commercially successful, yet certain difiiculties have presented themselves which mi1itate against an economicaland rapid production ofthe' strips.

Saturated, coated, mineral-surfaced roof! ing is difficult to cut because the grit wears out the knives very rapidly, especially those which are employed for cutting-the slots in the sheets, and because of the charaeter of the saturating and coating compounds which felt or other equivalent of porous, absorbent,

causes them to clog the dies or cutters, especially when mixed with grlt. The waste pieces, which are formed in cutting the slots in the sheet, contain much valuable compound, grit and fiber, but, because of the mixture of the grit with the saturating and coating compound, it is difficult to reclaim the several constituents without the expenditure of an undue amount of money.

The present invention has for its object to remedy and overcome the faults and difiicultics which have heretofore inured to the method of manufacture hereinbefore briefly described. This is accomplished, according to the present invention, by forming the slots in the sheet of felt before it is saturated or coated. The Waste cuttings may therefore be utilized in the heaters in the manufacture of felt without any other treatment.

In this way, the slotting is accomplished without permitting, the slotting knives to come. into contact either with the saturating compound, the coating compound or the grit. A further result is secured in that the coating covers the cut edges or walls of the slots, increases to some extent the thickness thereof by coating the adjacent margins of the under side of the sheet, and enables the walls of the slots to be surfaced with the So far as the details of manufacture arecon-cerned, in the practice of my invention,

it is quite immaterial whether the resultant.

shingle strips are cut crosswise of the sheet as illustrated in my Patent No. 1,150,298, dated August 17, 1915, or whether they are cutlengthwise of the sheet as shown in my Patent No. -908,125,- dated December 29, 1908. I In :either case, theslottingis accomplished befpre the saturating and thecoatmg compounds and the surfacing grit are ap lied to the sheet.

eferring to the drawing,-the sheet of fibrous materlal 15 shown as b g drawn from a roll to a slotting machine which is indicated asv a whole at 11. Said machine is provided with the feed rolls 12, 12, and with the'slotting rolls which are indicated at 13, 14:. These rolls may be formed subtudinal slots as indicated at c in Fig. 3. If

desired, however, the slotting rolls may be formed to cut slots (Z d which are staggered as shown in Fig. 4:. The slots 7) and the slots -cl cl are the equivalents of each other, and, on slitting the sheet in either case, two

' strips'areformed each of which is provided with a plurality of tabs or projections. The cuttings or wastepieces in the machine-'11 are deflected by achute 15 into a receptacle or basket 16.

After having been slotted, the sheet is now carried through a 'tank 17 containing a saturating compound of relatively lowmelting-point asphaltor other suitable-hydrocarbon material which is kept in liquid condition by any suitable heating means such as a steam coil 18. The sheet is caused to travel through the bath -of molten hydrocarbon, and, on emerging therefrom, passes between squeeze rolls 19 by which the excess or surplus compound is pressed from the sheet, leaving it comparatively dry. Thereafter the sheet is carried through a suitable cooling or refrigerating apparatus, indicated as a whole at 20 and illustrated as comprising two pairs of rolls 21, 21, 22, 22, which are supplied with'a cooling or refrigerating medium for chilling the sheet to the desirable lower temperature. If desired, assuming that the slots are either as indicated at b in Fig. 2 or as at (Z d in Figs, the sheet may be now severed by a longitudinal cut, and I have illustrated at 23 a machine by which this may be accomplished. The said machine is provided with the feed rolls 2%, 24, and with two rotary cutter blades 125, 125, for splitting the sheet longitudinally as indicated at e in Fig. 2. The rolls 24, 24:, may be formed in sections and set at a slight angle so as to cause the two halves of the sheet to be spread slightly and thereby separate the cut edges, although this is not essential. The sheet is now coated with a relatively high-melting-point pitch or asphalt, and to this end it is fed to a machine comprising two rolls 25, 25, which are preferably steamheated and which are carefully adjusted to a proper distance from each other. The asphalt is delivered to the top of the sheet by a pipe 26 and is spread to the desired thickness upon the sheet as the latter passes between the rolls. To prevent the asphalt from dropping through the slots in the sheet, the

latter may be passed over a stationary plate or table 27 Any surplus asphalt that is left upon the lower roll 25 may be scraped there-y.

from by a scraper 28 and delivered to a heated tank 29. The sheet is now ready to be coated with grit and it is consequently passed beneath a hopper 0r trough 30 containing gritof the desired color, from which the grit is delivered in a thin stream upon the top of the coated sheet, and, since the coating is still plastic, the grit adheres thereto to the desired extent. Any gritfalling through the slots in the sheet is caught by a receptacle 31, a chute 32 being employed to deflect the grit into the receptacle if found to be desirable. The sheet is now passed over a roll 33 and under a roll 34, so that the surplus or excess grit may be delivered to a receptacle 35. After passing under a roll 36, the sheet finally reaches pressurerolls 37, 37,- which partially embed the adhering grit into the body of the coating on the sheet. The sheet should now be cooled and any suitable cooling instrumentalities may be employed. I have conventionally illustrated at 38 a festooning mechanism for cooling the sheet prior to its delivery to the chopping machine by which the individual shingle strips are cut from the sheet. The machine, as conventionally illustrated, is provided with feed rolls 39 and a cutting mechanism comprising a stationary shear blade 40 and a rotating associated cutter or chopper 11. Where the sheet is formed'as illustrated in Fig. 2, the cutter 4:1 is arranged to cut the sheet transversely on a line which is indicated at h h in Fig. 2, so as to form two shingle strips 1' 2' of the same length and breadth, and each having along one longitudinal edge a plurality of spaced. tabs or projections. It the slots be formed in the sheet as indicated in Fig. 3, the cutter 41 may be rotated to cut the sheet transversely on the lines 3' j'and 7c 70, one cut being intermediate the ends of two adjacent rows of slots and the other be ing intermediate of the ends of the slots of each row. If the slot be staggered as shown in Fig. 4:, the cutter 41 is arranged in two parts so as to make the cuts indicated at m mand n n, this being facilitated by the previous longitudinal slitting of the sheet.

I do not, of course, intend to limit the invention to the formation of the slots in any particular way, the invention residing more especially in the formation of slots in the sheet prior to its being saturated and coated. I

into strips, the slots constitute the recesses between the several tabs or projections. These slots may, for example, be one-half an inch in width and of such length as to provide tabs which are about four and one-half to five inches in length.

By first slotting the sheet, it will be noted that I effect a very material saving in the quantities of saturating compound, coating compound and the grit which are used in the manufacture of the shingle strips, andIalso effect a saving in the felt, because the cuttings of the raw felt maybe reused in the manufacture of more felt. Another result which I secure is that the walls of the slots are covered with the coating compound and are also covered with the grit, and usually the coating compound works to some extent under the margins of the sheet on its under side adjacent the slots so as to increase the thick ness of the sheet at the edges of the slots. Where the sheet is split longitudinally before being coated, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, those edges, which subsequently become the lower edges of the tabs on the shingle strips, are also coated with the coating compound and faced with the grit.

\Vhat I clainiis':

.1. The method of making shingle strips, which includes first forming slots in a sheet of felt, then saturating the felt with a hydrocarbon compound, and subsequently cutting the sheet in such relation to the slots as to form shingle strips with slots orprojections.

2. The method of making shingle strips, which consists in forming in a sheet of raw felt those slots which constitute the recesses between the tabs or projections of the completed shingle strips, saturating and coating the slotted sheet, and cutting said sheet into shingle strips.

3. The method of making shingle strips, which consists in forming in a sheet of raw felt those slots which constitute the recesses between the tabs or projections of the completed shingle strips, saturating and coating the slotted sheet, supplying a facing of grit to the coated sheet, and severing said sheet transversel into shingle strips.

, .4. The metho of making shingle strips, which consists in forming regularly spaced slots in a sheet of raw felt, passing such slotted sheet through a bath of hydrocarbon, coat g the saturated sheet with asphalt or pitch, supplying a facing of grit to the coating, and cutting said sheets into shingle strips in which the slots form recesses between the tabs or projections thereof.

5. The method of making shingle strips, which consists in forming a longitudinal row f transverse slots in a sheet of raw felt, slitting said sheet between the outer ends of the slots, saturating and coating said sheet with waterproofing and weatherproofing compounds, applying grit to the coated sheet, and transversely severing said sheet into shingle strips.

6. In combination, the following instrumentalities arranged in the order named, to wit: mechanism for forming a plurality of slots in a sheet of felt, means for saturating said slotted sheet, and means for cutting said sheet into a plurality of shingle strips in which said slots provide tabs or projec- .tions.

7. In combination, the following instrumentalitics arranged in the order named, to wit: mechanism for forming a plurality of slots in a sheet of felt, means for saturating said slotted sheet, means for coating said sheet with a waterproof compound, and means for cutting said sheet into a plurality of shingle strips in which said slots provide tabs or project-ions.

8. In combination, the following instrumentalities arranged in the order named, to wit: mechanism for forming a plurality of slots in a sheet of felt, means for saturating said slotted sheet, means for coating said sheet with a waterproof compound, means for applying a layer of grit on the coated surface of said sheet, and means for cutting 7 said sheet into 'a plurality of shingle strips in which said slots provide tabs or projections.

9. In combination, the following instrumentalities arr-an ed in the order named to wit: mechanism or forming a longitudinal row of transverse slots in a sheet of felt, means for saturating said sheet with a wa tel-proofing hydrocarbon compound, means for slitting said sheet longitudinally along a line intersecting said slots, means for applying a plastic coating to the slitted sheet, mean for applying a layer of grit to said coating, and means for transversely severing said litted sheet into shingle strips.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

FREDERICK C. OVERBURY. 

